Nothing Happens if Nothing Happens: Isola Design for a circular design approach based on using regenerative resources, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and repurposing waste materials
Isola Design goes to London Design Festival 2023 – Nothing Happens if Nothing Happens
On September 16th London Design Festival will open its doors for its annual appointment with creativity. This year, the fair will host among its international participants also the Italian Isola Design project, first launched in 2017 by Gabriele Cavallaro and Elif Resitoglu in the homonymous Milan district. Both a digital and physical platform, it aims at bringing visibility to independent designers and design studios by connecting them to professionals of the sector, companies, curators, journalists, and potential clients: «There is a constant dialogue between the team and the designers and among the designers themselves, who often meet at Isola and then start to collaborate», says Elif Resitoglu, creative director of Isola Design.
Today one of the main areas of the Milan Design Week, Isola organizes in-person events and takes part in international design fairs to present projects with a focus on sustainability, innovation, and craftsmanship. Since 2021 it also has an online community that welcomes creative people from all around the globe to spark direct interactions, discussions, and the sharing of expertise. Moreover, via the upcoming Marketplace by Isola, each verified designer and creative studio will get the chance to sell their physical products, digital assets, and NFTs.
In London, Isola Design will bring its theme for this year, Nothing Happens if Nothing Happens: «We want to focus on regeneration, a subject that is less talked about than circularity and sustainability. We wish designers and visitors to understand that if we want a real change to occur, we must do something concrete. This may be the regeneration of all the resources we already have, which otherwise will go wasted».
Isola Design debut at Material Matters on London’s Southbank from September 20th to 23rd
At its first appearance in the London Design Festival, Isola Design’s exhibition will be featured in Material Matters from September 20th to 23rd. Hosted in the five-story Bargehouse at Oxo Tower Wharf on London’s Southbank, Material Matters is a cross-media platform for designers, architects, manufacturers, and makers investigating material intelligence and how materials will shape people’s lives over the coming decades.
Isola Design co-founder and project manager Gabriele Cavallaro sees in this participation an opportunity for the district to grow and develop new synergies: «At Isola, we have had our aim set on participating in the London Design Festival for a while. Our vision for an international network of design professionals that gather around the world, exchange ideas, and create a real community is becoming a reality. Our global stage is expanding even more, and this debut in London will open the doors for new opportunities».
A hundred percent circular set-up for Isola Design exhibitions
Material Matters focuses on biomaterials and products and furnishings realized with industrial waste. A spirit Isola Design decided to interpret according to its annual theme, Nothing Happens if Nothing Happens, which consists in a conscious circular design approach based on using regenerative resources, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and repurposing waste materials. The result will be an entirely recycled and recyclable set-up, which will be first used in the London exhibition and then reused in the following events Isola will take part in: «We understood that if we want to showcase sustainable projects, we need to start from making sustainable the set-up itself, otherwise those projects will remain creative ideas with no practical application», states Elif Resitoglu.
Design studio IAMMI collaborates with Elif Resitoglu for the exhibition design and with Italian start-up ReMat
Isola Design will work along some of its international partners for the 2023 agenda. Design studio IAMMI will collaborate with Elif Resitoglu for the exhibition design and with Italian start-up ReMat, specialized in polyurethane waste recycling, for the realization of the space set-up. Moreover, European-based manufacturer and sponsor of the exhibition The Good Plastic Company will supply its Polygood®, a material entirely made from recycled plastic waste, for the bar and lounge area.
Isola’s London exhibition will also further develop the district’s interest in combining physical and digital space. Indeed, it will partner with Italian 3DD Factory to create an AR app that will reproduce the products on display in the exhibition, give access to more information on the items, and special interactive contents such as material info or interviews with designers, allowing users to visualize them in their homes or offices.
Welcome to the Soft City: sustainable practices to shape a regenerative urban environment
For its installation in London, Isola Design envisioned a concept entitled The Soft City. This consists in a urban environment that aims at being perceived by visitors as human-centric, comfortable, and inviting. The idea is to challenge traditional notions of rigid structures by using soft materials and prove the potential of recycling and sustainable design practices to shape a regenerative urban environment.
The installation focuses on foundations and roots them in sustainability by employing recycled foam bricks as the primary building material to reduce environmental impact. Such bricks are made by ReMat from discarded mattresses, which get sanitized, minced, and then reassembled. The Soft City embodies a fresh start, while at the same time relying on a preliminary study of the chosen location and its characteristics in order to harmonize with its surroundings.
Elif Resitoglu and Gabriele Cavallaro – Isola promoting sustainable Design practices through an immersive educational experience
Visitors will be encouraged to dialogue and envision together a future where regeneration can be integrated into everyday life. Basically, Isola Design will transform its exhibition at Material Matters in a platform itself, where to foster community engagement, dialogue, and a sense of shared responsibility for sustainable design practices through an immersive educational experience. Visitors will be able to see with their eyes how discarded materials can be given new life. They will be called to engage with the installation and feel its sensory elements, such as textures, curves, and interactive spaces.
Elif Resitoglu declares that the exhibition will be ‘inhabited’ by a variety of collectible pieces with a pop soul: «We want to challenge the common idea according to which sustainable should necessarily be something natural, organic, with earthly tones». Or, as Gabriele Cavallaro puts it: «Sustainable can also be captivating. Sustainability should not involve only materials but also practices. Wood is a natural material, but if you import it from the other side of the world with no recyclable packaging, you are not being sustainable at all».
Isola Design and the recovering of materials for Dutch Design Week
Isola Design will restructure the materials from the London installation during Dutch Design Week (October 21-29, Eindhoven), Dubai Design Week (November 7-12) and Downtown Design (November 8-11, Dubai). In these fairs Isola will focus on new craftsmanship: «With the advent of the mass production in the design sector we started losing our heritage. New designers are forgetting the millenary knowledge and savoir-faire of their ancestors. We believe that such tradition should be preserved, but at the same time innovated through modern technologies to keep up with the times», says Elif Resitoglu.
In Eindhoven, Isola will also display an exhibition entitled Tools and Crafts, already hosted in Milan, with live performances where designers will demonstrate how they adapt techniques of the past to modern materials.
A new speed for craftsmanship: Isola heading to Dubai Design Week
In Dubai, the Italian district will have three dedicated spaces. One will be devoted to a partnership with Colab, a material library founded in 2019 in the Emirates, which will showcase a selection of market-ready products made with sustainable materials. The second will focus on collectible design, providing the opportunity for a cultural exchange, with also an event space for networking and convivial moments.
The third space will be dedicated to a special project on Made in Turkey, curated by Elif Resitoglu. Its goal is to try to explain the Anatolian heritage in Turkish design, dismantling preconceptions and stereotypes around it. This initiative comes within the broader framework of Isola’s attempt to promote a more informed approach towards design in general.
Studio Lugo, Hakan Helvacioglu, and Atelier Terra Madre – Anatolia: The Sun Rises from the East
Entitled Anatolia: The Sun Rises from the East, the collective exhibition will feature more than twenty designers. Each of them will showcase its signature approach while connecting the past with the present and embracing the artistic heritage of Anatolia.
The show is inspired by the Silk Road, an ancient trade route that linked the East and the West, and ran across Turkey, making it a vital hub for cultural exchange: «Being myself from Turkey, I am very excited that for the first time Isola is putting together a collective that aims to embody the new Anatolian lifestyle. The exhibition combines traditional and innovative techniques with contemporary and luxury design, which reflect the unique mix of ancient and modern influences that characterize the Anatolian region», declares Elif Resitoglu.
Isola Design
Isola Design is a physical and digital platform based in Milan and directed by Gabriele Cavallaro and Elif Resitoglu. One of the main areas of the Milan Design Week, this year the district will also take part in three international design fairs abroad. In September it will participate in the London Design Festival with a Soft City made of recycled materials. In October it will go to the Dutch Design Week for a focus on new craftsmanship. In November it will open a window on Europe and Turkey in Downtown Dubai.
Isola Design wishes to explore not only different materials and techniques, but also countries and cultures. It aims at creating an international network for its designers and to look for new practical approaches towards sustainability and regeneration around the world. This is why it has recently accepted to curate an exhibition also in Saudi Arabia, besides London, Eindhoven and Dubai.
